RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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SportsMoney WWE SummerSlam 2026 Preview And Predictions For Saturday By Blake Oestriecher ,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Blake Oestriecher is a columnist covering WWE, AEW and pro wrestling. Follow Author Aug 01, 2026, 09:00am EDT --:-- / --:-- This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . Summary WWE SummerSlam 2026 seeks to re-energize the company amid declining Raw viewership and struggling ticket sales. Despite these challenges, Night One of SummerSlam presents a robust card at U.S. Bank Stadium, featuring six significant matches. The highly anticipated WWE Championship dream match pits CM Punk against Cody Rhodes, with Punk predicted to retain. Liv Morgan will defend her Women's World Championship against Iyo Sky. In a Hell in a Cell match, Oba Femi is favored to defeat Brock Lesnar, potentially leading to Lesnar's retirement. The Bloodline faces LA Knight, Royce Keys, and Solo Sikoa while Gunther is set to maintain his dominance over Nick Aldis and The Bella Twins and Paige are predicted to overcome Fatal Influence. The event will stream on ESPN Unlimited and Netflix.
WWE SummerSlam 2026 is a chance for WWE to get back on track after it’s gone a bit off the rails.
Gone is the boom period that carried WWE through the past few years. Overall interest in the WWE product is clearly not where it was just a year or two ago. Raw viewership is down significantly as SmackDown’s viewership has plummeted by about 15 percent over the past year. Meanwhile, SummerSlam’s lackluster ticket sales forced the company to massively discount ticket prices, an obvious indicator of WWE’s struggling product.
The good news for WWE is that, on paper, SummerSlam 2026 has a strong card complete with a handful of blockbuster matches. The action kicks off Saturday night inside U.S. Bank Stadium with six matches on Night One, including a highly anticipated dream match for the WWE Championship.
Here is the full match card for Night One (Saturday) of WWE SummerSlam 2026:
Location: U.S. Bank Stadium (Minneapolis)
Start Time: 6 pm EST/5 pm CST (3 pm PST)
Streaming Info: ESPN Unlimited (United States), Netflix (internationally)
WWE took a lot of twists and turns to get to a marquee WWE title match between CM Punk and Cody Rhodes that could have been saved for WrestleMania 43.
Punk vs. Rhodes is, quite clearly, one of the biggest matches WWE can do right now, especially at a non-WrestleMania PLE. It does put WWE in a bit of a booking pickle, though. Rhodes doesn’t lose very often and yet just lost the title at Night of Champions in June while Punk recently returned after a lengthy layoff to end Sami Zayn’s WWE title reign after only nine days.
For that reason, Punk seems unlikely to lose at WWE SummerSlam, although a totally clean victory over Rhodes shouldn’t be expected either. Something to keep an eye on here: Randy Orton and Kevin Owens are reportedly both nearing a return , so don’t be shocked if one or both gets involved in the Saturday main event.
Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky is one of the biggest tossups at WWE SummerSlam 2026, with a case to be made for either star winning.
Sky is finally getting a big push as a singles star again and should be a champion in the near future. However, WWE has continuously teased that The Judgment Day is breaking up soon, so that might entail Morgan losing the Women’s World Championship to either Raquel Rodriguez or Roxanne Perez down the road.
On the flip side, that might fit better as a non-title feud, so that could mean that at WWE SummerSlam, either Rodriguez or Perez inadvertently, or perhaps purposely, costs Morgan the title. It could go either way, but because this is Morgan’s first televised title defense in more than three months as champion, she’s probably going to hold onto the title a little longer.
Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar III is the most predictable match on the SummerSlam card.
After Lesnar’s faux retirement at WrestleMania 42, “The Beast” evened the score at Clash in Italy to set up this massive rubber match. One could argue that Lesnar vs. Femi is the best WWE feud of 2026 so far, and yet, the biggest and best moment of the rivalry could still be to come.
At SummerSlam 2026, Femi should beat Lesnar handily, sending Lesnar into legitimate retirement in his adopted hometown in the process. Worth noting, though: Lesnar may not be done after SummerSlam, after all.
The bizarre dynamics of The Bloodline have dominated WWE Raw and SmackDown in recent weeks. Yet, the question remains: are they heels or babyfaces? One report says it’s the former .
But right now, the Usos and Jacob Fatu appear to be playing more of a tweener role as Solo Sikoa, a former member of the group, looks to be transitioning to a full-fledged babyface role . Although WWE tends to push The Bloodline at all costs, Sikoa’s new role, Keys’ status as a newcomer and Knight’s longtime feud with the faction should lead to a win for the babyfaces.
There are so many different layers to this rivalry that it’s destined to continue past WWE SummerSlam in some capacity, but it should start with a win for the good guys as The Bloodline continues to reestablish itself.
When SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis steps back in the ring at SummerSlam, one report says it is not part of a long-term plan to transition him to a full-time wrestling role. Quite the opposite , in fact.
WWE has done a stellar job of using this rivalry to both make Aldis a more sympathetic character and continue Gunther’s stellar heel run. Yet, that’s all this should be. Gunther is the most dominant star in WWE, a man who retired Goldberg, John Cena and AJ Styles.
There’s no reason whatsoever for him to lost to an authority figure at WWE SummerSlam.
Fatal Influence has been a huge hit since debuting on SmackDown earlier this year, and they should beat the trio of the Paige and the Bella Twins at SummerSlam. Key word: ...
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